Theory of Knowledge Course Description

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Theory of Knowledge Course Description

• Daniel W. Blackmon
• Coral Gables Senior High
• Michael Bowe Qatar Academy

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Theory of Knowledge

• What do you know about this course?
• What do the words Theory and Knowledge mean
  to us?

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Theory of Knowledge is

• trying to uncover the means through which we gain
  knowledge about the world, and examine these
  paths to knowing
• b) examine basic assumptions we have, and
  compare and contrast knowledge claims across
  subject areas,
• c) understand the nature of knowledge itself
  (knowledge, certainty, truth, fact, belief,
  opinion).

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In Other Words

• What do you know?
• How do you know you know it?

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Extremes of knowing

• Prejudice and Certainty
• Obvious things must be true
• We can easily attain certainty
• TOK isn't important and doesn't apply to 'the
• real world'
• I know the truth
• My standards are better than any other
  standards
• My culture is the best in every way

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Extremes of knowing

• Relativism and Skepticism
• Nothing is what is seems to be
• Certainty is impossible
• The purpose of TOK is to be able to
• be skeptical about everything
• There is no such thing as truth
• There are no standards by which to judge
  anything
• All cultural perspectives are equally valid

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A third (and better) way

• The Critical Thinker
• Things are not always what they seem to be
• We must examine and analyse
• Certainty is very difficult to come by in all
  except
• the simplest cases (and even many of
  those)
• We are all searching for the truth, but it is
  hard
• to say that we know we have found it.
• Many standards are defensible but many are
  not.
• I have considered several positions and know
  and can justify what I believe to be
  reasonable and unreasonable.

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IB Hexagon
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IB Hexagon
What could it mean that ToK is in the CENTER of
the Diploma program?
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Nature of the Subject

• ToK challenges students and their teachers to
  reflect critically on diverse ways of knowing and
  areas of knowledge, and to consider the role
  which knowledge plays in a global society.

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Nature of the Subject

• It encourages students to become aware of
  themselves as thinkers, to become aware of the
  complexity of knowledge, and to recognize the
  need to act responsibly in an increasingly
  interconnected world.

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Nature of the Subject

• To enquire into different ways of knowing, and
  into different kinds of knowledge, the TOK
  programme is composed almost entirely of
  questions.

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Nature of the Subject

• The most central of these questions is How do I
  know that a given assertion is TRUE, or a given
  judgement is LOGICAL, or WELL SUPPORTED?

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Nature of the Subject

• Assertions or judgements of this sort are
  termed knowledge CLAIMS, while the difficulties
  that arise in addressing these questions are the
  broad areas known as PROBLEMS of knowledge.

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Nature of the Subject

• the questions have been grouped into four broad
  categories Knowers and Knowing, Ways of Knowing,
  Areas of Knowledge and Linking Questions.

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Aims

• to engage students to THINK ABOUT and QUESTION
  the bases of knowledge, so that they
• develop an understanding of why critically
  examining knowledge claims is important
• develop a critical capacity to evaluate beliefs
  and knowledge claims
• make interdisciplinary connections

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Aims

• Students should
• become aware of personal and ideological and
  cultural biases
• consider that knowledge may place
  responsibilities on the knower

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Aims

• Essential is also to
• understand the strengths and limitations of
  individual and cultural perspectives
• develop a concern for seriousness in formulating
  knowledge claims, and intellectual honesty.

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Objectives

• candidates should be able to
• make connections between and across Ways of
  Knowing and Areas of Knowledge
• make connections between personal experience and
  different Ways of Knowing and Areas of Knowledge
• demonstrate an understanding of knowledge at work
  in the world

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Objectives

• candidates should be able to
• identify values underlying judgements and
  knowledge claims pertinent to local and global
  issues
• demonstrate an understanding that personal views,
  judgements and beliefs may influence their own
  knowledge claims and those of others

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Objectives

• candidates should be able to
• use oral and written language to formulate and
  communicate ideas clearly.

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The TOK Diagram
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Knowers and Knowing

• Nature of Knowing
• Knowers and Sources of Knowledge
• Justification of Knowledge Claims

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WAYS OF KNOWING

• Perception
• Nature of Perception
• Limitations of Perception
• Language
• Nature of Language
• Language and Knowledge
• Functions of Language
• Language and Culture

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WAYS OF KNOWING

• Reason
• Nature of Reason
• Reason and Knowledge
• Strengths and Weaknesses of Reason
• Emotion
• Nature of Emotion
• Emotion and Knowledge

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Areas of Knowledge

• Mathematics
• Definition of Mathematics
• Mathematics and Reality
• Mathematics and Knowledge Claims
• Mathematics and Values

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Areas of Knowledge

• Natural Sciences
• Definition of the Natural Sciences
• Natural Sciences Methods of Gaining Knowledge
• Natural Sciences and Knowledge Claims
• Natural Sciences and Values
• Natural Sciences and Technology
• Natural Sciences Metaphor and Reality

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Areas of Knowledge

• Human Sciences
• Definition of the Human Sciences
• Human Sciences Methods of Gaining Knowledge
• Human Sciences and Knowledge Claims
• Human Sciences and Values

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Areas of Knowledge

• History
• Definition of History
• History Methods for Gaining Knowledge
• History and Knowledge Claims
• History and Values

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Areas of Knowledge

• The Arts
• Definition of the Arts
• The Arts Methods of Gaining Knowledge
• The Arts and Knowledge Claims
• The Arts and Values
• The Arts and Knowledge Perspectives

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Areas of Knowledge

• Ethics
• Definition of Ethics
• Ethics Methods of Gaining Knowledge and
  Knowledge Claims
• Ethics and Values
• Ethics and Technology
• Ethics and Knowledge Perspectives
• Ethics and Politics

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Linking Questions (1)

• Belief
• Certainty
• Culture
• Evidence
• Explanation

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Linking Questions (2)

• Interpretation
• Intuition
• Technology
• Truth
• Values

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TOK Points

• Points awarded for
• Part 1, The Essay on a Prescribed Title (40
  points) (externally assessed)
• Part 2, The Presentation (20 points) (internally
  assessed)
• Grades combined to give a total out of 60.

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TOK Points

• The band descriptors are
• A Work of an excellent standard
• B Work of a good standard
• C Work of a satisfactory standard
• D Work of a mediocre standard
• E Work of an elementary standard.

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TOK and the Extended Essay

• A candidate who, for example, writes a
  satisfactory Extended Essay and whose performance
  in Theory of Knowledge is judged to be good will
  be awarded 1 point,

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TOK and the Extended Essay

• while a candidate who writes a mediocre Extended
  Essay and whose performance in Theory of
  Knowledge is judged to be excellent will be
  awarded 2 points.

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TOK and the Extended Essay

• A candidate who fails to submit a TOK essay, or
  who fails to make a presentation, will be awarded
  N for TOK, will score no points, and will not be
  awarded a Diploma.

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Assessment Outline

• The assessment model in Theory of Knowledge (TOK)
  comprises two components, both of which should be
  completed within the 100 hours designated for the
  course

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Assessment Outline Part 1

• The assessment model in Theory of Knowledge (TOK)
  comprises two components, both of which should be
  completed within the 100 hours designated for the
  course
• Part 1 External Assessment (40 points)
• Essay on a Prescribed Title ( 12001600 words)
• One essay on a title chosen from a list of ten
  titles prescribed by the IBO for each examination
  session.

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Assessment Outline Part 1

• Part 1 External Assessment (40 points)
• Essay on a Prescribed Title ( 12001600 words)
• One essay on a title chosen from a list of ten
  titles prescribed by the IBO for each examination
  session.

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Assessment Outline Part 2

• Part 2 Internal Assessment (20 points)
• The Presentation (approximately 10 minutes per
  candidate)

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Assessment Outline Part 2

• One presentation to the class
• One written self-evaluation report, using the
  relevant form from the Vade Mecum, including
• a concise description of the presentation
• answers to the questions provided on the form.

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Part I Essay on a Prescribed Title (1200-1600
words)

• General
• Each candidate must submit for external
  assessment an essay on any one of the ten titles
  prescribed by the IBO for each examination
  session.

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Part I Essay on a Prescribed Title (1200-1600
words)

• General
• The titles entail generic questions about
  knowledge and are cross-disciplinary in nature.
• They may be answered with reference to any part
  or parts of the TOK programme, to specific
  disciplines, or with reference to opinions gained
  about knowledge both inside and outside the
  classroom.

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Part I Essay on a Prescribed Title (1200-1600
words)

• The titles are not meant to be treated in the
  abstract (theory). In all cases claims should be
  justified and relevant to the student, and where
  possible, counter claims and original examples
  should be cited to illustrate the argument.

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Part I Essay on a Prescribed Title (1200-1600
words)

• General
• The chosen title must be used exactly as given
  it must not be altered in any way. Candidates who
  modify the titles may gain very few or no points,
  since the essays may be deemed irrelevant by the
  assessors, who mark essays in terms of the title
  prescribed.

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Part I Essay on a Prescribed Title (1200-1600
words)

• General
• The essay must be well-presented, clearly
  legible, and where appropriate, include
  references and a bibliography.
• Candidates are expected to acknowledge fully and
  in detail the work, thoughts or ideas of another
  person if incorporated in work submitted for
  assessment,

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Part I Essay on a Prescribed Title (1200-1600
words)

• Acknowledgements and References
• and to ensure that their own work is never given
  to another candidate, either in the form of hard
  copy or by electronic means, knowing that it
  might be submitted for assessment as the work of
  that other candidate.

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Part I Essay on a Prescribed Title (1200-1600
words)

• The TOK essay is not a research paper but, if
  specific sources are used, they must be
  acknowledged in a bibliography. The bibliography
  should include only those works (such as books,
  journals, magazines and on-line sources)
  consulted by the candidate.

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Part I Essay on a Prescribed Title (1200-1600
words)

• Bibliography
• As appropriate, the bibliography should specify
• author(s), title, date and place of publication
• the name of the publisher or URL (http// .)
• the date when the web page was accessed, adhering
  to one standard method of listing sources

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• Authenticity
• Teachers must ensure that essays are the
  candidates own work. If there is doubt,
  authenticity should be checked by a discussion
  with the candidate about the content of the essay
  submitted and a scrutiny of one or more of the
  following

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• Authenticity
• the candidates initial proposal and outline
• the first draft of the essay
• the candidates references and bibliography for
  the essay, where appropriate y the style of the
  writing, which may reveal obvious discrepancies.

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• Authenticity
• It should be made clear to candidates that they (
  their teacher) will be required to sign a
  written declaration when submitting the essay, to
  confirm that it is their own work.

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Part II The Presentation

• General
• Students must make one or more individual and/or
  small group oral presentations to the class
  during the course, and complete a self-evaluation
  report.

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Part II The Presentation

• General
• Topics for oral presentations may be chosen by
  the student(s) with the teachers approval, or
  may be assigned by the teacher. The presentations
  may be on any topic relevant to TOK, provided
  that it has the potential to meet the demands of
  the assessment criteria. Prescribed Titles,
  however, should never be used as presentation
  topics.

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Part II The Presentation

• General
• Presentations may take many forms, such as
  lectures, skits, simulations, games, dramatized
  readings, interviews or debates.

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Part II The Presentation

• General
• The students may use supporting material such as
  videos, overhead projections, posters,
  questionnaires, cassettes of songs or interviews,
  costumes, or props.

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Part II The Presentation

• General
• Under no circumstances, however, should the
  presentation be simply an essay read aloud to the
  class.

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Part II The Presentation

• General
• If a student makes more than one presentation,
  the teacher should choose the best (or the best
  group presentation in which the student
  participated) for the purposes of assessment.

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Part II The Presentation

• General
• Although a student may have made the presentation
  as a member of a group, the teacher must
  attribute points on an individual basis.

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Part II The Presentation

• General
• Students must prepare a written self-evaluation
  report, using the relevant form from the Vade
  Mecum, including a concise description of the
  presentation and brief answers to questions such
  as

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Part II The Presentation

• Self-evaluation
• In what ways did the topic address problems of
  knowledge, such as reaching truth or gaining
  evidence?

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Part II The Presentation

• Self-evaluation
• What was the main objective of the presentation?
  Explain briefly.

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Part II The Presentation

• Self-evaluation
• What methods were used to present the topic and
  why were these methods selected? Was the
  presentation well-organized, thought-provoking
  and engaging? If a group presentation, what was
  your personal contribution?

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Part II The Presentation

• General
• What were the strong and weak points of the
  presentation? If you were to do it again, what,
  if anything, would you do differently to improve
  it?

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Part I Assessment Criteria

• The Essay on the Prescribed Title is assessed in
  the light of six criteria
• A Knowledge Issues (010)
• B Quality of Analysis (010)
• C Breadth and Links (05)
• D Structure, Clarity and Logical Coherence (05)
• E Examples (05)
• F Factual Accuracy and Reliability (05).

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Part II Assessment Criteria

• The Internal Assessment (Presentation) is
  assessed in the light of four criteria
• A Knowledge (0-5)
• B Quality of Analysis (0-5)
• C Knowledge at Work (0-5)
• D Clarity (0-5)

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Bibliographic Note

• The material in this presentation has been taken
  directly from the IB TOK Subject Guide

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The End!